It is heretofore been known to provide gates on manure spreaders that fit forwardly of the beater mechanism and prevent material within the box from moving out the open rear end of the spreader box. It has also been known to provide such gates that are mounted on fore-and-aft extending arms fixed to the upper edges of the manure spreader box and hydraulically operated to raise and lower the arms along with the gate so as to move the gate in and out of material-blocking position with respect to the open rear end. In many such arrangements, the hydraulic cylinders are mounted on the sides of the spreaders and a bell crank connection is provided in conjunction with the lift arms for the gate so that as the cylinder extends and retracts the arms and the gate move correspondingly.
One of the general problems that exists with such an arrangement of hydraulic cylinders is that damage may occur to the cylinders both due to the rust and corrosion caused by material that is contained in the spreader box and due to the normal type loading of the spreader box. In many instances, power loaders are used to move manure from a barnyard into the box. The power loaders generally are composed of a pair of lift arms mounted on opposite sides of a tractor and a bucket that is positioned forwardly of the tractor. The lift arms are raised and lowered and manure is scraped into the bucket. The bucket is then raised to a level above the spreader box and the material in the bucket is dumped into the box. Ofter times the area in which the spreader and loader is being used is rather confined. Also, in many instances, the visibility of the tractor operator that is loading the spreader is blocked by the superstructure of the power loader and consequently damage accidentally occurs to the sides of the spreader box and in many instances contact is made between the loader and the hydraulic cylinders that operate the tailgates thereby causing damage to the cylinders. Logs, stones and other heavy material may fall from the spreader or loader bucket to cause additional damage to the gate cylinders.